Vulcan's Might
by Tyler Willis
Summary: In a galaxy that is fractured by a Cardassian genocide against the Romulans, the Vulcans have decided to intervene, and as the results spiral out of control, the balance of power finally shifts…
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, or anything that is in this story.

Vulcan's Might

Chapter I

Sparks flew from a nearby computer console. An alarm starts sounding, filling the small area with an earsplitting sound. The vessel shook violently from weapon's fire.

"Report." The vessel's commander requested in a calm monotone.

"Our deflector shields are gone. We've suffered hull damage. Life support is off line, sensors are off line, primary power is off line, warp engines are off line, impulse engines have been significantly damaged. The Communications Grid is offline and our weapons are gone." Replied a crewman who was sitting at the helm station.

"WARNING. WARNING. INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. WARNING. WARNING…" The automated computer voice said.

The door to the vessel's bridge slid open silently, and the intruder stepped into the command center. The vessel's commander stood, and pushed back the hood of his robes. He looked at the intruder with a detached calmness.

"Vulcan." The intruder sneered. "What are you doing here?"

"You're too late, little one. You will not succeed in-" The Vulcan was quieted by the sound of a hand disruptor's hum. The commander fell to the floor, a pool of green blood forming around his lifeless body.

"He is right. You cannot win th-" The crewman too was silenced by the disrupter fire.

* * *

The vessel, the _VSA Ment'ality_, was left floating in space, a damaged, lifeless hulk. Over the next month, no one was informed it was missing. The Vulcan Science Academy never realized it had been taken in the first place; it was thought that the _Ment'ality_ was still in the shipyards where decommissioned vessels are put.

Needless to say, it was an unpleasant surprise when the _Ment'ality_ was discovered by a Federation patrol. It was taken to the nearest star system, and a message was sent to Starfleet Command. After a brief investigation, and the subsequent discovery of two dead Vulcans, the U.S.S. _Madrid_ was sent to join in the investigation.

"Estimated time to arrival?" Caption Shrall asked, his blue antennas flexing in curiosity.

"We'll be arriving in the Celadon system in twenty three minutes." The operations office, Lieutenant Sheeler, reported. There was a quiet beep, and Sheeler looked down. "Captain, we're being hailed; priority two."

"Thank you. I'll take it in my ready room." Shrall stood and walked off the bridge. Once in his ready room, he took his place at the table, and activated a tabletop view screen. The transmission was routed to the screen; the picture of Vice-Admiral Serena Radance appeared.

"What can I do for you today, admiral?" Shrall asked.

"When you reach the Celadon System, you are to rendezvous with the Starship _Frost_. Captain Cullen will be taking over the operation."

"Admiral, I assure you that I am more than able to handle an assignment like this. There's no reason to assign another officer." Shrall's anger was evident, his antennas twisting in fury.

"I'm afraid there is. The situation of the _Ment'ality_ is classified, which is why you haven't been fully apprised of what's going on. Caption Cullen will fill you in when you reach the Celadon System." Then, in a softer tone, Vice-Admiral Radance added "This has nothing to do with you; Caption Cullen simply has more experience then you. Don't take this personally."

"Yes, admiral." Shrall said. The transmission went dark.

The U.S.S. _Madrid_, under the command of Captain Shrall, dropped to sub-light speed as it entered the Celadon System. The Celadon System was a binary star system, with seven planetoids and three planets, none of which were habitable. Starbase Seventy-three-beta was also in the Celadon System; this was the current destination of the _Madrid_.

There currently were five ships already in the system: The Galaxy-class starship, the _Frost_, under the command of Caption Cullen, the _Ment'ality_, which had no living crew, the Nebula-class starships, the _Roman _and the _Acropolis_, under the commands of Captains Kory Grey and Walter Frost. The last vessel was a newly commissioned Sovereign-class starship, dubbed the _Queen Elisabeth_, commanded by the brilliant Serenity Worship.

"Hail the _Frost_." Caption Shrall orders as he walked onto the bridge, taking his seat.

The operation's officer complied, and after a few seconds, the view screen shifted to show the view of the _Frost_'s bridge. Sitting in the command chair was Francis Cullen; his uniform fit him snugly, and his yellow hair fell to his shoulders.

"Hello, Shrall. It's nice to finally meet you. Please, have the _Madrid_ take up position near the _Roman_, then transport to the _Frost_."

"Helm, plot an intercept course for the _Roman_. Put us parallel her. Lieutenant Sheeler, you have the Con."

Captain Shrall stood and moved to the bridge's turbolift. He stepped into the lift, and declared his destination. The turbolift took him to the correct deck, and its doors opened; the caption stepped out, and walked the few steps to the transporter room.

"Caption Shrall to the bridge. Are we in transporter range of the _Frost_?"

"Aye, caption. You can transport at any time." A voice said over the intercom.

Caption Shrall stepped onto the transporter pad, and nodded to the operator to initiate the transport. There was a brief humming sound, and the world faded into a haze of blue, only to reappear moments later. Captain Shrall stepped off the _Frost_'s transporter pad, nodding to the transporter chief.

"Welcome aboard, Captain." A voice called out from the room's door. Shrall turned, and saw Captain Cullen.

"Permission to come aboard."

"Granted. Now, if you'll follow me; we're having the meeting in conference room four." Captain Cullen said, turning and heading out. Shrall followed him closely.

"How long have you been in Starfleet?" Cullen asked.

"Seven years. I served in the Andorian Guard for eighteen years before that."

"Why'd you decide to leave the Guard?" Cullen asked as they entered a turbolift. "Deck six"

"The Andorian armada has only thirty ships; none of them are as advanced as a Starfleet vessel. So, I chose to participate in Starfleet's exchange program. I decided to stay."

The two captains stepped out of the turbolift, and headed down the corridor of deck six. Captain Cullen stopped outside the conference room's doors; they slid open, and he motioned for Captain Shrall to enter in front of him. Inside the room, already waiting, were Captains Grey, Frost, and Worship.

"Please, take a seat." Cullen politely said to the Andorian.

Shrall nodded, and slid into a seat next to Captain Serenity Worship. Serenity was a young woman, her mother half Human and half Vulcan, her father Romulan. Her hair was long, deep red, her eyes a hollow gray. Serenity, while her ears were pointed, had her hair covering them. She gave Shrall a warm smile as he sat down.

"Well, it looks like everyone is here." Cullen said.

"What about Admiral Radance?" Captain Gray asked.

"She will be joining us in six hours, with a fleet of eleven additional ships, including the _Enterprise_."

"Why is Admiral Radance leading a fleet?" Shrall asked, his antenna flexing in confusion.

"That's part of the reason we're holding this briefing. As you all know, four days ago the patrol ship _King Halo_ found a severely damaged ship. Upon investigation, two dead Vulcans were found on the bridge. Subsequent examination also revealed…another body, hidden away in the cargo hold."

"What's your point?" Captain Walter Frost.

"The body was of a Klingon, and was being held in a status field. Computer records show that the body was on bored several weeks before the attack."

"What were the Vulcans doing with a Klingon body?" Serenity asked, arching an eyebrow.

"We don't know. The Vulcan Science Academy clams ignorance. But that's not the troubling part."

"Then what is?" Shrall asked.

"The Klingon was a clone. Or, more accurately, another clone."

"What do you mean, "Another clone"? There's only one Klingon clone that's ever been…" Serenity's eyes widened as she realized what had happened. "It was Kahless, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was another clone of the Klingon Emperor." Cullen confirmed. "It's believed that the Vulcans who stole the _Ment'ality_ were planning to replace Kahless with this other clone."

"What actions are going to be taken?" Captain Gray asked.

"We don't know. You see, inside of the duplicate Kahless clone, nanites were found in his bloodstream."

"The Vulcans were planning on using them to keep control over the clone in some way?" Shrall asked, not quite following what was being said.

Before Captain Cullen could say anything, the red alert alarm sounded throughout the ship. All five captains stood simultaneously; at the same moment, the inner-ship comsystem crackled to life.

"_Captain Cullen, a vessel has just dropped out of warp. It's attacking the _Acropolis_. Please report to the bridge._"

"Serenity to the _Queen Elisabeth_. One to beam back." Serenity Worship faded away in the blue haze of the transporter.

Shrall and Captain Gray also attempted to transport back to their ships, but by the time they gave their orders, the _Frost _already had raised her shields. Captain Cullen had ran out of the conference room, presumably heading to the bridge. The three remaining captains quickly followed, taking turbolift to the bridge.

On the bridge of the _Frost_ orders were being yelled, reports were being shouted, and chaos was becoming apparent. The ship started shuddering, and the aft science station exploded into a flash of sparks. When Captain Cullen stepped into this mess, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Shields down to eleven percent. Hull breaches on decks two through eight. Dorsal phasers are offline." The tactical officer said.

"The _Acropolis_ has been severely damaged. They're withdrawing from the fight." The communications officer yelled.

On the viewscreen was an image of an unidentified ship, which was firing a form of beam weaponry. Unlike phasers, this weapon didn't connect with a ship's shields then wink out of existence. It was a solid beam of white energy, pounding continuously into the _Frost_'s shields, like a chisel.

"The _Queen Elisabeth_ has opened fire. She's only using phasers." The operations officer announced.

"Hail the _Queen Elisabeth_." Captain Cullen shouted, as the _Frost_ continued to shudder under the strain of enemy fire.

"Channel open. They're all ears, captain."

"Captain Serenity, please increase your offensive output!" Cullen shouted over the comsystem.

"Can't do. There was a power surge in our phaser array. We can't get them to operate over seventy percent."

The _Frost_'s viewscreen showed the _Queen Elisabeth _firing phasers, the yellow bursts of light like needles. The unidentified ship didn't seem to be taking much damage. Suddenly, it stopped firing of the _Frost_ and _Roman_ and concentrated its attacks of the _Queen Elisabeth_.

"Shrall to the _Madrid_. You're clear to open fire. Use phasers and photon torpedoes. Do everything you can to disable that ship."

The _Madrid_ was an Excelsior-class starship, one of the last to have been commissioned. It moved on an attack vector, and launched several globs of energy from her forward torpedo tube. The photon torpedoes impacted at the same moment the _Madrid_ started firing phasers.

"Sir," The _Frost_'s tactical officer called out, getting Captain Cullen's attention. "The enemy vessel is altering its heading; it's accelerating to attack speed."

The unknown ship fired its unusual beam weapon, which struck the _Madrid_. The _Madrid_'s shields flashed to life, absorbing the continuous assault, until they were overwhelmed. The beam, having penetrated the _Madrid_'s shields, hit the starship's port warp nacelle.

Space was lit with igniting plasma, as a nacelle was ripped from the _Madrid_'s engineering hull. The _Madrid_ was sent into a spin, presumably due to loss of helm control. Explosions covered the outer hull of the ship, and parts of its saucer section erupted in flames, including the area that contained the bridge.

"Sensors are detecting an overload in the _Madrid_'s warpcore. Estimate a breach in less than ten seconds."

"Captain Cullen! If the _Madrid _blows, the shockwave will dest-" Whatever was doing to be said was cutoff as a massive shockwave collided with the _Frost_.

"We've lost main power. Sensors are offline."

Captain Shrall sank down to the floor, breathing heavily. His ship had been destroyed, and there was nothing he could do about it. Worst yet, he was trapped on a ship that was, for all intents and purposes, dead in the water. All Shrall could think, the only thing that passed through his head, was a single thought.

"Why?" Shrall murmured, as the Galaxy-class starship, the _Frost_, exploded around him.

* * *

A/n: I hope that you like this chapter. It was hard for me to write, but I like the way it turned out. There were 2057 words in this chapter. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions, comments, or criticism, let me know. Please review, or send me a privet message, telling me your thoughts.

Good morning and good night.

-Tyler Willis


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, or anything that is in this story.

A/N: I should give any reader fair warning that there are going to a lot of OCs in this story, and there's going to be a lot of character development, so if you don't like that sort of thing, then don't read.

Vulcan's Might

Chapter II

The Cardassian warship _Relix_ moved through space, slicing through the emptiness like a knife through butter. Her captain sat rigidly in the command chair, staring at the viewscreen. Gul Emdel, rather suddenly, raised his hand, motioning for the attention of his second in command.

"What is our position?" Emdel asked, quietly.

"Four minutes from the border. We are at the rendezvous point." The response Emdel received caused him to frown.

"Drop to impulse. Scan for other ships." Emdel ordered.

"There are no ships detected."

"All stop. Full power to shields." Emdel was starting to get agitated. He was a member of the Military, in the serves of the Cardassian Fourth Order. And, like any true Cardassian, he didn't like being ordered away from the homeworld; he especially didn't like being ordered to the Breen Frontier.

"Sir, I'm detecting a large amount of gravimetric disturbances off our port bow. It's similar…no, it **IS** a vessel decloaking." Glin Furor announced form the tactical station.

"Arm Disruptors and torpedoes! Target the decloaking ship." Emdel said, grinning at the thought of destroying another vessel.

"We're being hailed, sir. It's a Cardassian frequency."

"On screen." Emdel bitterly ordered.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't attack my ship." Gul Motrog's image said.

Emdel stood from his char, an action he rarely took wile on his duty shift. "What the hell is a Galor-class ship doing with a cloaking device?"

"One of my technicians is preparing to beam aboard your ship; he will be bringing aboard a piece of…technology that he'll install. He'll also be making adjustments to your Defector Array and Dorsal Sensor Array. You will not interfere with him. Understand."

* * *

"Hold still." Doctor A'Dare ordered, turning her attention momentarily away from the captain of the _Advent_.

"I'm fine. I should be on the bridge." The captain's voice was a mixture of raw pain and youthful ignorance.

"You're not going anywhere. I still can't believe they gave you a ship."

"Hey! That's uncalled for. I'm an exhalent-" A series of coughs interrupted the captain's statement, and Doctor A'Dare quickly pressed a hypospray to the captain's neck.

"Thanks." The captain's voice was a little less coarse as the drugs almost instantaneously took effect. "Did you do something different with that?"

"I've had to increases the dosage two percent. But that's the last time I'll be able to do so; it's borderline toxic at this quantity."

"You said that fifteen percent ago." The captain said, giving a wry smile.

"Yes, well, pretty soon I won't be exaggerating. Now, you're to remain in bed for no less then the next forty hours." Doctor A'Dare said as she moved to the room's exit.

"Hold on now, doc. You can't expect me to stay in my quarters for the next two days."

"Captain, I think it would be best for you to listen to the good doctor." Lieutenant Thourman, the captain's personal aid, said.

"Alic! Whose side are you on?"

There was silence in the room for a moment. Doctor A'Dare stood by the door, just outside the range of the sensor that would cause the door to slide open. Alic Thourman was sitting on a gray sofa, contemplating how he should answer his captain's question. And Sebastian Acumen, captain of the Federation Starship _Advent_, was lying in his bed, several thick blankets covering him.

During this silence, all three, Doctor, captain, and aid, realized something was going to happen. They weren't positive what was going to happen, or if it end up being good or bad. But each and every person in the room knew, without the potential for a doubt, that something was about to happen.

"_Captain Acumen, there's a priority one message from Admiral_ _Radance. She wants to speak with you._" Commander Trenton Gray, first officer of the _Advent_, informed his captain.

"Patch it through to my quarters. Doctor, Alic, you're both dismissed."

Vice-Admiral Serena Radance appeared on a nearby wall screen, and seemed taken aback when she saw Sebastian lying in bed. After a moment of composing herself, she asked, "Is this a bad time?"

"Not at all, Admiral. I was just having a checkup. To what do I owe this honor?"

"We've just started picking up multiple distresses-calls from the Celadon system. So far, we've been unable to establish contact with any of the ships that we're supposed to be rendezvous with, and Starbase Seventy-three-beta isn't responding to our hails."

"Do you want us to increase speed?" Sebastian asked, preparing to give that very order.

"No, I just want to make sure you're ready."

"Yes, Admiral." Sebastian said. As the transmission ended, Captain Sebastian Acumen pushed his blankets away, and stood. He headed out of his room, entering the hallway. Letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that Doctor A'Dare wasn't waiting for him, Sebastian headed to the turbolift; once inside, he declared the bridge as his destination.

"Captain on the bridge." Commander Gray said as soon as Sebastian stepped out of the Turbolift.

"How long till we drop out of warp?"

"Two minutes, captain." Trenton said, standing form the captain's chair and moving to his own seat.

"Scan the system." Sebastian ordered.

"We can't, sir." Trenton replied. "An unknown type of radiation is preventing sensors from functioning while in warp."

"Naturally. There's always a reason we can't see what we're flying into." Sebastian murmured to himself. Trenton gave him a slightly amused look.

The U.S.S. _Advent _started to shudder as power was diverted from several systems to both the Structural Integrity Field and the Inertial Dampeners. The view screen flashed white for a moment, before reverting to the normal display of space.

The view that met them chilled Captain Acumen; there was a large debris filed, two Nebula-class ships were burning wrecks, and a Sovereign-class starship, the newest ship built by Starfleet, was drifting in space. Everyone was silent on the bridge, and Sebastian wondered what kind of chaos the _Enterprise_'s bridge was in, what with Admiral Radance no doubt trying to determine what happened.

"Scan for survivors." Sebastian said suddenly, realizing the _Queen Elizabeth_ was still mostly intact. There were a few beeps as the operation officer, Ensign Walton, followed Sebastian's orders.

"Sensors indicate over six hundred survivors on the _Queen Elizabeth_. The _Enterprise _is moving to intercept."

"Helm, plot a parallel course. Bring us within transporter range of both the _Enterprise _and the _Queen Elisabeth_. Send a message to the _Enterprise_, requesting orders. And start beaming survivors to sickbay."

A chorus of "Yes, Sir" followed; for the next three hours there was silence on the bridge, the crew sensing the discontent of their captain. Then, with the suddenness that always accompanied tragedies, the _Advent_ was hailed.

"Captain Acumen, please transport aboard the _Enterprise_." The order, rather then coming from the admiral, was given by Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Federation Starship _Enterprise_.

"Of course. I'll be their momentarily." Sebastian rose and, as an afterthought, called out to Trenton, "You have the bridge, commander."

Stepping onto the turbolift, Sebastian called out his destination. And when the doors slid shut, a tremble tore through the young captain. Against his will, his chest started to heave. He tried to resist, but his legs gave out, and he fell to his knees. Before the turbolift reached its destination, Captain Sebastian Acumen was passed out on the floor.

A/n: This is a short chapter, and for that, I apologize. I do hope that you liked it, but I'll understand if you didn't.

Good Day, and Good Night

~Tyler Willis.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, or anything that is in this story.

Vulcan's Might

Chapter III

Green, the color of envy. Green, the color made by the amalgamation of passionate red and loyal yellow. Green, the color of the Star Empire, and most importantly, the color of blood. Green, the color embraced by the Romulan people, the color symbolizing the sovereignty of the Romulan people. Green was, in all rights, the one thing that could rally the populace, thus it was only natural to adopt the color for the military.

Sub Commander Am'dala, captain of an Imperial Warbird, watched as bursts of green energy, disruptors, tore through space. Energy, Romulan energy, impacted into the dull yellow shields of a Cardassian warship. A smile slipped onto the Sub Commander's face, glee lighting her eyes.

There were five hostiles, five ships in Imperial Space that didn't belong. The Cardassians had managed to take the Romulans by surprise, having come through the Breen side border. Not that surprise mattered. Even with only two Warbirds engaging five Cardassian ships, thing were still even. So the Sub Commander kept her ship cloaked.

The _Victory Flight_ fired, again and again and again, and Sub Commander Am'dala watched from her bridge. Disrupter blast after disrupter blast struck out, being absorbed by Cardassian shields. The return fire from the Cardassians, some unnatural hybrid of Klingon disrupters and out dated Federation phasers, had minimal effect against the superior Romulan defense technology.

The Cardassian torpedoes, however, were effective against the Romulan shield. Sub Commander Am'dala was surprised to see the Cardassian ship resorting to their secondary weapons; it was well known throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants that the Cardassians were perpetually suffering a resource shortage. As such, the Cardassian were naturally conservative.

Six torpedoes, each a compact blob of antimatter, exploded against the _Victory Flight's_ shields. The explosions were absorbed, as they should be, but the Sub Commander noticed a small breach that was formed. The Cardassians also noticed this, and two more torpedoes were launched; one of the torpedoes passed through the breach, and impacted the bare metal of the Warbird's secondary hull.

The tension dissipated at the moment Sub Commander Am'dala let out a sigh of relief. Despite the direct hit, the _Victory Flight_ had a dense enough hull to survive without so much as a minor hull breach. In response to the attack, both the _Victory Flight_ and her sister ship, the _Triumphant Strike_, increased their weapons output.

It was a well-known fact, among the Romulan people, that no outside power truly knew how many disrupter cannons were installed on a D'deridex-class Warbird. Some, like the egocentric Federation, placed the number at a mere sixteen. Others, like the arrogant, barbaric Klingons, place the number at twelve. But they were both wrong.

In truth, there were just over thirty disrupter cannons in the forward section of a Warbird. And all of then, on both ships, were being used. Sub Commander Am'dala allowed a grin to cover her face. She turned to Lhiau, the resident agent of the Tal Shiar, and saw that he too was pleased, though it only showed in his eyes.

The two Warbirds worked in tandem, focusing their firepower on a single Cardassian ship. Within moments, the already waning shields of the Cardassian ship gave way. Seconds later, the Galor-class warship exploded, sending a shockwave through space. The two closest ships, both Cardassian, took the full force of the shockwave, and were crippled within seconds. Seconds later, after their warpcores overloaded, the Cardassians lost two more ships.

The remaining two Cardassian ships were damaged, severely so, and lost their shielding. The _Victory Flight_ also sustained damage, its shields completely depleted, and both _Victory Flight_ and the _Triumphant Strike_ lost their weapons. Sub Commander Am'dala turned to the young centurion at the operations counsel, and gave him a simple command "Disengage the cloak."

"Yes, sir!" the centurion responded.

"Lock weapons on the remaining Cardassian scum. Prepare to transport boarding parties aboard, with orders to capture the command crew."

"Sub Commander, sensors are detecting twenty-three ships decloaking!" The centurion called out.

"What!" The Sub Commander new that was impossible. For one thing, she hadn't called for reinforcements. For another, all Romulan ships employed a specific sensor modulation that enabled Imperial ships to discern the position of cloaked Romulan ships. So, the decloaking ships couldn't be Romulan, and there was no way for a Klingon ship to make it this far into Romulan space.

"Sub Commander, they're Cardassian sh-" Before the centurion could complete his sentence, the ship under the command of Sub Commander Am'dala was destroyed.

* * *

"We're just waiting for Captain Acumen." Said Vice-Admiral Radance, with a sigh. They had been waiting for over ten minutes. The captains of all eleven starships that were apart of Vice-Admiral Radance's convoy were present in _Enterprise's_ ready room, except for captain Sebastian Acumen.

The doors to the ready room slid open, and twelve pairs of eyes turned to look at the newcomer. It wasn't captain Acumen, and only her professionalism and years of experience kept the Vice-Admiral from swearing. The man who did enter walked up to captain Picard, and whispered something into his ear.

"Captain Acumen won't be joining us. He was found unconscious in a turbolift, and is currently in his ship's sickbay."

"Is he alright!" Captain Aaron Keller, of the Starship _Dancer_, asked.

"He's fine. He has health problems, and is prone to being sickly." Vice-Admiral Radance said. "Let's commence with the meeting."

With the push of a button, the image of Captain Serenity Worship appeared. Serenity was lying in a hospital bed, having suffered severe burns. Despite this, she tried to give her fellow captains a smile.

"Captain Worship, please explain to everyone what happened." And with the Vice-Admiral's order, Captain Serenity began to tell her tale of what happened. All of the captains maintained a respective silence as Serenity struggled to speak. When she was finished, the contemplative stillness had asserted itself over the captains.

"Vice-Admiral, how could the ship Captain Worship described reach this far into Federation space without being noticed?" Captain Keller asked.

"Is it possible the ship had cloaking technology?" This was form Kevin Red, captain of the _New York_.

"No. The closest neighbor to us are the Sheliak. They wouldn't bother using stealth, even if they had cloaking capabilities." Jean-Luc Picard said.

"Asking questions is pointless," the Vice-Admiral sighed. "Starfleet Command has been apprised of the situation. All available ships are being routed to this sector. While we wait for their arrival, I want all of you to break into groups of four, and search for both the _Ment'ality _and the unidentified enemy ship. The _Enterprise_, the_ Advent_, the_ Queen Elisabeth_, and the_ Blue River _will form my group, and will remain in the Celadon System, to try and locate the memory core of Starbase Seventy-three-beta. You're dismissed."

A/n: Sorry for how short this chapter is. Also, I don't know if the Breen share a common border with the Romulan Empire, or the Cardassian Union. However, I know the Romulans are nowhere near the Cardassians, so for the sake of this story, the Union and the Star Empire share a border if the Breen Confederacy.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or complaints, please let me know in either a review, or a privet message. Also, as always, constructive criticism is welcome. And feel free to point out any continuity errors you notice, as that will be very helpful.

Have a Good Day, and have a Good Night,

~Tyler Willis


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, or anything that is in this story.

Vulcan's Might

Chapter IV

Sitting rigid, his skin as gray as the statues on the homeworld, Gul Emdel watched as a Cardassian ship was destroyed. He, the grate commander that was renowned for his detachment, openly snarled as two more Galor-class warships were destroyed by a shockwave. Then, ever so deliberately, Gul Emdel's snarl became a smile, as yet another Romulan ship started to decloak.

"Give the signal." Was all the Gul had to say. The _Relix_, and twenty-two other ships, disengaged their cloaks, making themselves visible to the Romulans. Before the newest Romulan Warbird could fully raise its shields, all twenty-three Cardassian ships opened fire.

Once the Romulan ship was nothing but debris, three of the Cardassian ships began shooting at the two remaining Romulan ships, which bore the names _Victory Flight_ and _Triumphant Strike_ respectively. And so it was that, in a matter of seconds, a sector of space that once was clad in the green might of the Star Empire was seized by Cardassians. The Romulan Eradication had begun, and Gul Emdel was happier then he'd ever been before.

* * *

Being a doctor was something she's never considered; her mother, before the end of her life, had been a civilian merchant, owning an excessively profitable shipping company. Her father had worked for Starfleet Intelligence, before he'd died in an Environment Dome malfunction. With both of her parents dead by the age of eleven, and a twin brother to look after, becoming a doctor had been the farthest thing from Alexia's mind.

Now Alexia was the Chief Medical Officer aboard the _Advent_, a post she'd held since the vessel's commission. Alexia, as attested by her peers, was a gifted doctor, an excellent surgeon. But what Alexia A'Dare was most talented at was research.

Alexia, at the age of ten, had been accepted into the Medical Program at California Institute of Technology, a program, better then even Starfleet Medical, which was second only to the Vulcan Science Academy. She spent less than a year at the Pasadena school, before she had to leave and attend to her brother. But during the time she was there, Alexia made a name for herself.

Once she was certain of her brother's wellbeing, she returned to school; this time, however, she joined Starfleet Medical. While her instructors were well aware of her abilities, Alexia constantly refused to graduate early. And thus, Alexia A'Dare was able to spend most of her pre-career days researching.

Yet, despite her aptitude at medical research, and despite her skill as a doctor, Alexia couldn't help her captain. From the moment he'd steeped aboard the _Advent_, Alexia had tried everything to correct the captain's condition. She's tried everything, and everything had failed.

Sebastian Acumen's condition was so simple, so easily treated for anyone else who suffered from the same ailment. Sebastian, however, wasn't anyone else. He was, so far as Alexia knew, the only living victim of Tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis, once called the white plague, was caused by a bacterium that was long ago eradicated. Only one in every seven billion humans was afflicted by the bacterium, and all of them were diagnosed with consumption within days of the infection. And all of them were cured. Except for Sebastian.

Sebastian's body was incapable of surviving the only drug capable of curing him. In fact, Sebastian's body was incapable of surviving almost every drug that was approved by the Federation. So, for the past year and two months, Alexia had been giving her captain a mild stimulant, which helped give Sebastian, at the very least, the appearance of health.

For the past three hours, from the moment Captain Acumen had been discovered unconscious in a turbolift, Doctor A'Dare had been trying to wake her captain up. For the past three hours, with ever attempt she made, Alexia further proved that her captain was, and for the foreseeable future would remain, in a coma.


End file.
